January 2007

The Show for Snow!

Plans are set for St. Paul Snow Conference

Join more than 1,000 public works professionals from streets, roads, and transportation departments from all across the Snow Belt of the U.S. and Canada. The North American Snow Conference is the only place you'll find this much experience and knowledge of snowfighting and winter road maintenance under one roof. Hosted by the Minnesota Chapter, this year's conference takes place April 22-25 at the RiverCentre in beautiful St. Paul, Minnesota.

The St. Paul RiverCentre features 253,000 square feet of event space and numerous meeting rooms, many with spectacular views of the Mississippi River. (Photo credit: St. Paul RiverCentre Convention & Visitors Authority)

APWA is the public works community's top resource for information and expertise on winter operations. APWA's Snow Conference combines four days of quality education programs and technical tours with opportunities to network with manufacturers, distributors, consultants and other public works professionals.

ExhibitsThe Snow Conference exhibit floor just keeps getting bigger. Following the successful premiere of heavy equipment at last year's conference, APWA has made it a permanent addition to the exhibit program. Once again, there will be tires to kick on the show floor! More than 120 companies will showcase everything you need in equipment, technology, products and services for snow and ice removal and winter operations. Be sure to visit www.apwa.net/snow for a current list of this year's exhibitors.

EducationNot only does the Snow Conference have the best variety of vendors, it also features the best technical and educational program out there with dynamic keynote speakers and more than 30 educational sessions, roundtables and technical tours to choose from. This year's diverse gathering of speakers come from as far away as Northwich, UK; Toronto and Barrie, ON; and states such as Utah, Colorado, Virginia, Idaho and New York.

The Snow Conference educational program will help you stay abreast of the latest state-of-the-art practices and procedures in snow and ice control and winter road maintenance. You'll come away with specific ideas to fine-tune your winter operations program.

Technical ToursThe morning of Wednesday, April 25, is dedicated entirely to the Technical Tour program, included in full registrations as a part of the Snow Conference program. There is no additional cost, but space is limited so be sure to check the appropriate box on your registration form if you plan to participate.

Tour 1: Snowfighting Equipment of Minnesota. Held at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) Central Services Shop, this tour will highlight a variety of snowfighting equipment from across Minnesota. Tour Mn/DOT's unique fabrication facility where they custom-assemble their own snowplowing fleet. You'll see how they start with off-the-shelf stock and modify it to their own specifications and needs, including the use of fabrication outsourced to state detention facilities. Staff will be on hand to describe everything from vehicle assembly to custom electrical fabrication and environmental testing. Plus, you can visit with staff and see equipment representing the spectrum of snowfighting vehicles from Minnesota local and county agencies, as well as a Mn/DOT-designed and built incident response trailer.

Tour 2: Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) and I-35E Lexington Bridge Anti-Icing System. Tour participants will be taken through Mn/DOT's Regional Transportation Management Center (RTMC) and learn about the interactions between three major players housed in the facility—Metro Traffic Management Center (coverage of the Minneapolis/St. Paul extended metropolitan area), Metro District Maintenance Dispatch, and the State Patrol—and how these areas work with other functional areas at Mn/DOT including Field Maintenance. The Metro District's stationary anti-icing systems are monitored from Maintenance Dispatch at the RTMC. Tour participants will also travel to the pumphouse for the I-35E Lexington Bridge anti-icing system where they will see a demo of the pumphouse and in-pavement equipment and learn about different types of anti-icing systems, including potential pitfalls and opportunities for success in planning, designing, installing and maintaining these systems.

Gangster Buffet & CabaretJohn Dillinger, Babyface Nelson, Ma Barker, Machine Gun Kelly...these are the names of just a few of the gangsters that took refuge in St. Paul during the Prohibition years. Bank robber and kidnapper Alvin "Creepy" Karpis once said, "If you were looking for a guy you hadn't seen in a few months, you usually thought of two places—prison or St. Paul. If he wasn't locked up in one, he was probably hanging out in the other."

At this year's Tuesday evening banquet, we'll be celebrating St. Paul's colorful and unsavory past as a safe haven for criminals and fugitives in the 1920s and 30s. It was an exciting and dangerous time when out-of-town gangsters were welcome to hide out without fear of being arrested, as long as they followed the rules: identify yourself to the police upon arrival, pay off the officials, and commit no crimes within the city limits.

This nostalgic evening will take you back to the speakeasy days in St. Paul where good food, bootleg whiskey, jazz music, and fast action made for great times. You'll enjoy a fine meal followed by a gangster cabaret show performed by club regulars Al Capone, Rocco Fishetti and Roxie Hart. Plus Paul Maccabee, author of the book John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks' Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul, 1920-1936, will entertain you with his fascinating gangster history presentation, "John Dillinger, Ma Barker and Me."

The Gangster Buffet & Cabaret event will be held Tuesday evening, April 24, in the Great River Ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel. Cost is included in full attendee and guest/spouse registrations. Additional tickets are $50 each and can be purchased with your Snow Conference registration. Casual attire is fine.

Group Discounts for One-Day RegistrationSend 10 or more people from your agency and receive a 25% discount off one-day registration fees! Registrants must be employed by the same agency, but are not required to attend on the same day. Not applicable to multiple days for any one person. One-day registrations are available for Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Sunday includes the reception on the exhibit floor. Monday and Tuesday include lunch. Tuesday does not include the banquet; however, you can purchase banquet tickets for an additional cost. Pre-registration is required. Group discount registrations will not be accepted onsite at the conference. Contact Brenda Shaver at bshaver@apwa.net or (816) 595-5240 for more information.

Host City: St. Paul, MinnesotaBuilt along the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, the City of St. Paul has taken painstaking care in preserving its rich history and magnificent architecture. Visitors marvel at St. Paul's Old World charm. Summit Avenue boasts one of the country's longest stretches of uninterrupted residential Victorian architecture, with its wrought iron gates, stained glass windows, enduring stone, and white marble pillars. And standing atop hills overlooking downtown are two of the city's architectural masterpieces—the State Capitol, crowned by the largest unsupported marble dome in the world, and the Cathedral of St. Paul, modeled after St. Peter's in Rome.

St. Paul has a large ethnically diverse population and offers a variety of cultural entertainment, museums, historic sites, sporting activities, shopping venues, restaurants, and nightlife. You'll find many of these options located within walking distance of the official Snow Conference hotels.

For more information about St. Paul, visit the St. Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.stpaulcvb.org.